The Rise of the Black Plain

Those three panicked as they felt their necks being held tightly by people so much stronger than them. After all, they, people at the peak of the 6th stage, could not be restrained by nobodies of this region.

So, if people were restraining them to that extent, then such people could only be Spiritual Emperors, individuals too strong for them to handle!

Gulp!

'Damn it! Invaders!' One wanted to scream but could not express a single word.

Minos and Ruth held them tightly so they could barely breathe, so it was out of the expectations of these people to ask for help.

'Who are these people? Why did three Spiritual Emperors appear in the middle of our camp?' The three were slowly getting more and more desperate.

However, their desperation did not last long when Abby's ability made them vigorously shake until the will disappeared in their eyes.

"My love, you can let them go now." Abby smiled at Minos.

Ruth then did the same as her husband, releasing the neck of the man she had been holding.

Then the three of them stood in front of Minos, Ruth, and Abby, and then the questioning began. 

Minos asked. "Who are you? Why are you targeting the Black Plain? Is this the action of an organization? Perhaps the royal family of Albano?"

The one he was looking at then replied. "We are criminals in Albano."

"That is also true for all the people in this camp and most of our alliance."

"Criminals?" Ruth frowned, not expecting that would be the case here. "I thought they were part of an organization..."

"Hmm, but what about this alliance? What is it about?" Abby nodded to Ruth and asked the criminal from earlier. 

He then said in a voice devoid of emotion. "We, the criminals of Albano, have allied to control the Black Plain."

"So that's it..."

"And what's the reason for all this? I'm sure the Black Plain is just an ascending place by regional standards to most people outside our region." Ruth said.

Another of those three then answered her. "Rumors are going around the Albano underworld that the Black Plain has many good things for Spiritual Kings like us, able to act..."

"Oh?" Minos uncrossed his arms, confirming his theory that someone was arming against him. 

'Who is doing this? Is it an Albano organization trying to hide its tracks from the Spiritual Church? Or is it someone behind the Spiritual Saints who have attacked me these past few years?' He wondered. 'Maybe they are the same?'

"Well, Gloria will be coming to the area before long, so I'll talk to her about this person or organization spreading rumors about the Black Plain." He commented in a low voice. "In any case, when will your group act? How many more of you can we expect?"

The third criminal replied. "We will act when we have at least 60,000 Spiritual Kings in the region."

"60,000?" The two women said in surprise, both finding that number absurd.

"All of them are criminals?" Minos frowned his eyebrows.

"Most of them. But others are probably just mercenaries."

"Unbelievable!" Abby exclaimed as she looked at Minos.

That man saw that Ruth was also watching him and sighed. "It's a pity these many Spiritual Kings are scum who have nefarious intentions against us. Otherwise, we could gain a lot from them."

He then slowly turned one of his hands, pointing his palm upwards. He then closed his fist and clenched his fingers tightly.

Chaotic Gravity!

After Minos' spiritual energy covered up the bodies of those three, in the blink of an eye, they were completely crushed, with only a strange lump of flesh the size of a human torso remaining.

Seeing this, Minos threw it towards the fireplace in the large tent, allowing it to burn.

Abby and Ruth just watched this in silence, impressed with Minos' ability to deal with people at just one level below him. They knew how strong he was, but since his advancement, few times had he demonstrated his full powers.

So, seeing him crushing those people with a handshake, they could not help but admire their man's strength!

"Let's go." He said to the two with an ugly expression, angry that he could not convert any of those enemies.

"It's truly a shame..." He said before explaining to his women his thoughts. "If they weren't greedy criminals, we could have a chance to bring some of them over to our side." 

"Oh? Are you sure it would be good to bring people from Albano to the Black Plain?" Ruth asked as they were already flying back to the city from earlier. "Did you know? Albano is an enemy of the Flaming Empire..."

"But we have nothing against Albano, at least not for the moment..." Abby laughed since the Flaming Empire was not their ally for them to worry about. "On the other hand, having good relations with someone doesn't put us on the same team as him."

"Tsk!" 

As Ruth made a tongue-tied sound to Abby, Minos replied. "If they were genuine immigrants coming to the northern region to have a harmonious life here, I wouldn't think it bad to welcome them. But, obviously, I wouldn't make deals with the royal family of Albano to facilitate such a migration..."

"But it wouldn't be bad for us to welcome Spiritual Kings interested in developing in our territory. Of course, they would come here with their interests, but isn't that also true for the people of our region?" He looked at Ruth. "Besides, we have enough strength to control Spiritual Kings, so their numbers wouldn't be a problem."

"However, the main point is what we could create if we get many Spiritual Kings to inhabit our cities..."

"My love, what are you getting at?" Abby asked in doubt.

"Well, have you ever heard of something called Spiritual Attraction?" He asked them.

"Attraction?" Ruth's face flushed, but she soon returned to normal as she heard Minos' laughter. "That's not what you're thinking..."

He became more solemn and began to explain. "In any case, what I am talking about refers to an effect concerning the density of spiritual energy in a given area. This effect increases the spiritual energy density of that area in question due to the mere presence of many high-level people."

"That..."

Spiritual Attraction was a field effect whereby when many people of the same stage gathered in a relatively small area, their presence created an attraction to the free spiritual energy in the atmosphere.

The result of this?

The spiritual energy generally dispersed in the atmosphere in variable densities could be drawn into a given region of space. That undoes pockets of energy in certain areas, for example, unreachable to humans, bringing these pockets to locations near beings capable of cultivation. 

Thus, it could make even a weak location evolve into a cultivation sanctuary for people weaker than these experts creating such effects.

In the case at hand, Minos thought it was a pity that these people were criminals because otherwise, they could populate his cities. Consequently, his cities could raise their spiritual energy densities and become more fascinating places for people to train, mainly to those of the first four stages.

That had no significant effect for people of the same stage as those generating the Spiritual Attraction, nor for those of higher levels. But even so, it was already beneficial to have in one's area as it could raise the cultivation speed of the population.

Therefore, Minos was lamenting the current situation!

"So that's it..." Ruth understood why Minos found it a pity that they had bad intentions towards the Black Plain and were probably unable to listen to the voice of reason.

Even if not-so-troublesome migrants did not join the army, their very presence on the Black Plain could already result in a good thing for the government of the three.

"Well, there's nothing to do, these people only came here because of these disturbing rumors, so they're going to fight no matter what," Abby commented.

"Hmmm, anyway, let's go home. Let's allow those criminals to build up their strength a little more before we act."

"Yes!"